trace|urbanism

Also in the GSD Winter 07 magazine, is a short article - list really - of an ongoing research project conducted by Joan Busquets. The research attempts to classify the various types of urban and architectural interventions that are taking place in our cities today. This is, when I signed up for history of urban form, modern american public policy, introduction to urban design, history of city planning, introduction to the fields of city planning and the like, what I thought I would be getting. A direct comparison of the various ways and scales with which to integrate the social, policital, economical, and environmental aspects of city design, regeneration, and planning. But, like many introductory survey courses are, they only skimmed at the surface of some of the more experimental and innovative methods of urban transformation.

‘The work in the forthcoming catalog to “Cities - 10 Lines” does not argue that all urbanism fits within the proposed categories, but it does propose that each line of work is endowed with a precise set of methods and instruments that can foster change in city-building.”

	Synthetic Gestures - work relying on high profile, clearly delimited, yet spectacular design projects that use their impact to trigger broader urban revitalization. Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao. Ghery.
	Multiplied Grounds - This uses converted infrastructures and/or high density reuse. The new conditions establish a restructuring of the surrounding fabric. Lille Intermodal Station, France. Koolhaas.
	Tactical Maneuvers - The project involves reducing the intervention to the least possible dimension, wherein its strength and success lie. Malagueria Housing Project, Siza.
	Reconfigured Surfaces - The restructuring of fine-grain, open space. Urbanity achieved by providing a new lease on life without the cost attached lo larger restructuring operations. Schouwburgplein, Rotterdam, West 8.
	Piecemeal Aggregations - An intermediate scale intervention of approximately eighteen to twenty five city blocks. This type realizes it can use an urban fragment as a starting point to address general city issues. Battery Park City, SOM.
	Traditional Views - This model assumes the lasting apeal of the late 19th and early 20th centrury residential city. Seaside, FL, DPZ.
	Recycled Territories - This results in the restructuring of large tracts of land in which human settlement becomes a single element that participates ina broader ecological system. Emscher Park, Germany.
	Core Retrofitting - The updating of historic cores without altering the city’s most delicate tissues, providing access to the center as well as new uses of old facilities. Master Plan Toledo, Spain. Busquets.
	Analog Compositions - Rethinks the scale of the master plan to take advantage of urbanistic projects at small and intermediate scales. Towards an Urban Renaissance: London’s Urban Task Force. Richard Rogers.
	Speculative Procedures -Experimental investigations in urbanism adapted from theories in philosophy, hydraulics, thermodynamics, the computer, etc. Provides a way for formulating new planning principles. Blur Building. Diller + Scofidio.